Samantha Power rehabilitates genocidal Sri Lanka: Boyle

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 November 2015, 20:41 GMT]"Power’s visit is just a public relations exercise designed to rehabilitate the genocidal GOSL government. In other words, Power has become an Accessory After The Fact to the GOSL genocide against the Eelam Tamils. Power has now become part of the GOSL’s “Problem from Hell,” said Professor Boyle, an expert in International Law and who teaches at the College of Law, University of Illinois, after following the events of Ms Samantha Power's visit to Sri Lanka this weekend. Criticizing Ms Power for avoiding questions on genocide, Boyle said, Power was guilty of unwittingly exhibiting racial bias in asking Tamil journalists whether they trusted Colombo, while she never would have asked the white-skinned Bosnian Muslims if they trusted the genocidal maniacs running the Government of Republika Srpska.

Full text of Professor Boyle's comment follows:

Samantha Power

"Power knows from her direct and personal experience on Bosnia that it is still extremely dangerous for Bosnian Muslims living in Srebrenica at risk to their own lives. She would never have asked any Bosnian Muslim journalists living in Srebrenica if they trusted the genocidal maniacs running the Government of Republika Srbska, who are now in charge of Srebrenica thanks to Richard Holbrooke’s Dayton Agreement whose 20th Anniversary she just opportunistically praised.

Professor Francis Boyle

"She would have never put Bosnian Muslims on the spot in that way and insulted their intelligence in the process. Why did Power do this to Tamil Journalists in Jaffna living under the control of the GOSL genocidal maniacs? Does Power believe that dark skinned Tamils are dumber than white skinned Bosnians? Obviously, white skinned Bosnian Victims of Genocide mean a lot more to Power than dark skinned Tamil Victims of Genocide.

"Power is a disgrace to the Irish who themselves are Victims of British Genocide. See my book United Ireland, Human Rights, and International Law (Clarity Press: 2012)."

* * *

While Ms Power tweeted on Sunday that she had agreed on demilitarization with Northern Sinhala Governor Palihakkara (Met with Gov Palihakkara in North #SriLanka. Agreed development, demilitarization in Jaffna cannot wait.), the official read-out only said Power has expressed "support for expanding efforts to restore normalcy to former conflict areas."

Another tweet from her on Sunday said: “Urged Jaffna Chief Minister Wigneswaran to help reinforce #SriLanka precious moment for reconciliation/rebuilding.”

On Monday she was tweeting: “Honored to meet Pres .@MaithripalaS, who has committed to reconciliation, democ reform, justice. Good start so far,” and “#SriLanka Opposition Leader Sampanthan: passionate voice for Tamil rights, getting results by bldng nat'l consensus.”

Ms Power was telling the NPC Chief Minister that Colombo had de-proscribed some diaspora groups, Colombo has to deal with pressure from Sinhala groups in the South, and that Sri Lanka is generally slow in implementing changes. [In fact, the Colombo regime has just reinforced the so-called ban on Tamil diaspora groups and activists, while avoiding some of the groups in the new Gazette notification.]

A spokesperson for Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), a US-based activist organization providing legal help to Tamil war-victims, said: "in her pulitzer prize winning book "A problem from Hell," Power was severely critical of US foreign policy arguing that "[n]o US president has ever made genocide prevention a priority," the US political system is ruthlessly effective in consistently not intervening in the face of genocide, and that "that is why genocide rages on." It is sad to see that Power herself has become the target of her own accusation, by first failing to convince the US administration to intervene, and subsequently promoting a policy of whitewashing Sri Lanka's genocide."

Ms Power was a former Balkan war correspondent, a foreign policy columnist at Time magazine and was a Professor at Harvard University before being invited to hold positions of power in the National Security domain by the Obama administration.